Letters // Correspondance
Dear Editor,
Moscow Despatches “Inside Cold War Russia”
Reviewed by Geoffrey Pearson
Mastering the Public Platform
William Henry Harrison, the 9th president of the United States got up on his inaugural day, gave the longest such speech to date, caught a cold and died. He’s the only person I know of to have actually died from speaking in…
The Sporting Life
In recent years Washington has become the scene of considerable diplomatic intramural sport; around thirty embassies and international organizations headquartered there compete regularly at soccer, and a smaller number joust in that most American of games — baseball. I wonder how many…
Canada 1957-1967: The Years of Uncertainty and Innovation
Jack Granatstein is one of Canada’s foremost historians. This book, which caps the nineteen-volume Canadian Centenary Series, should be counted as one of his finest works. Writing contemporary history isn’t easy. There are too many vivid memories of familiar events, too many…
A Chat with the Ignatieffs
I was half an hour late. With reasonable instructions, but no map, I had decided I could find my way by foot to Palmerston Court. Toronto was not that big. Happily the pizza shop on Bathurst had a telephone and so I…
Travelling with the SSEA (1942-1946)
My official travels during the first four years of departmental service never extended beyond note-taking expeditions in advance of 1939, The Royal Visit, and occasional (later regularly) Saturday working sessions at Kingsmere. But in April, 1942, when the SSEA said “Can you…
Mitchell Sharp
The eyes are blue, the thinning blonde hair is whitening, Sitting erectly at his desk he looks a decade younger than his 74 years. Once described as “a sort of Prairie Gothic Junior, son of Jest Folks” Mitchell Sharp has served the…
We Interviewed John Holmes
Behind the ruddy-elfin features, owlish eyebrows and sliding glasses are a pair of penetrating eyes that give a measure of their owner. Gentleman, scholar and diplomat, John Holmes embodies the talents and traits of all three professions.
The Making of a Peacemonger
I unhesitatingly commend to Bout de papier readers — of whatever vintage and stream — that they read George Ignatieff’s shortish book. First, it is a highly entertaining and witty “good read” – quite a rarity among memoirs dealing with Canada’s foreign…
